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KELLY VANDERBEEK EARNS FIRST WORLD CUP DOWNHILL PODIUM OF HER CAREER

VanderBeek finishes second in St.Anton/Arlberg DH with teammate Janyk eighth

ST.ANTON/ARLBERG, AUT (December 21st, 2007) – Kelly VanderBeek (Kitchener, ON) charged to the first World Cup Downhill podium of her career today, finishing second in St. Anton/Arlberg, AUT.

VanderBeek, who finished in a time of one minute 32.36 seconds, was part of an all-North American podium as American Lindsey Vonn won the race by 0.36 seconds over VanderBeek with Vonn’s teammate Julia Mancuso in third, just 0.02s behind the Canadian.

This is the second World Cup podium of VanderBeek’s career, her first being a third place finish in the Bombardier Winterstart Super G in 2006. It’s Canada’s fifth World Cup podium of the 2007/08 season, with four of them coming from the Ladies team.

“I am very comfortable on this course,” said VanderBeek, who was in the top six in all three training runs. “I had amazing training coming into the race and I really calmed down and told myself that all I had to do was ski and that’s where my focus was and all my energy was.”

“I have to admit that I was very nervous before the race, I knew something could happen,” she said. “Everybody knew something big could happen today so I was very happy to deliver.”

It was a solid day for Canadians as Britt Janyk (Whistler, BC) finished in eighth and Emily Brydon (Fernie, BC) placed 15th.

“It feels good when you come into the finish area and see your right in there,” said Janyk, who has two of the Canadian team’s podiums this season. “I skied well today and this is not an easy course here but it’s really fun and challenging. I feel like I’m on a roll right now where every weekend, I’m right in there.”

With the result, Janyk holds onto her 2nd place position in the World Cup Downhill point standings with 224 points while Kelly VanderBeek moves up to fifth with 139. Vonn leads with 330 points thus far.

“It’s really exciting to see Kelly up there today and last week it was Emily. There is just such a good energy with the group. We’re getting with the success and it feels like where we should be,” added Janyk.

Larisa Yurkiw (Owen Sound, ON) was 38th in just the third World Cup Downhill of her career.

Ladies World Cup ski racing action concludes tomorrow in St. Anton/Arlberg, AUT with the Super Combined.